Editing Lycia (section)

====Ally of Athens in the Delian League (c. 470–430 BC)====
[[File:DYNASTS_of_LYCIA._Kuprilli._Circa_480-440_BC.jpg|thumb|[[Kuprlli]] (480–440 BC) ruled at the time of the Athenian alliance. Head of Karneios or [[Zeus]]-Ammon and [[Triskeles]]. KO-𐊓-P(ΛΛE) around.]]
Following the Achaemenid defeat in the [[Greco-Persian War]] (479 BC), the Lycians may have temporarily joined the Greek side during the counter-attacks of the Spartan [[Pausanias (general)|Pausanias]] in the Eastern Mediterranean circa 478 BC.<ref name="AK97">{{harvnb|Keen|1998|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4Ig4KJySudYC&pg=PA97 97–]}}</ref> However, the Lycian were still on the Persian side during the expeditions of [[Kimon]] circa 470 BC, who finally persuaded the Lycian to join the Athenian alliance, the [[Delian League]]: [[Diodorus]] relates that Kimon "persuaded those of Lycia and took them into his allegiance".<ref name="AK97"/>

As the power of Athens weakened and Athens and Sparta fought the [[Peloponnesian war]]s (431–404 BC), the majority of Lycian cities defaulted from the [[Delian League]], with the exception of Telmessos and Phaselis. In 429&nbsp;BC, Athens sent an expedition against Lycia to try to force it to rejoin the League. This failed when Lycia's leader Gergis/[[Kheriga]] of Xanthos defeated Athenian General Melesander.<ref>{{cite book |title=The History of the Peloponnesian War: Translated from the Greek of Thucydides. To which are Annexed, Three Preliminary Discourses. I. On the Life of Thucydides. II. On His Qualifications as a Historian. III. A Survey of the History |date=1818 |publisher=Edward Earle T.H. Palmer, printer |page=173 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k9E_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA173}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Tuplin |first1=Christopher |title=Persian Responses: Political and Cultural Interaction with(in) the Achaemenid Empire |date=2007 |publisher=ISD LLC |isbn=9781910589465 |page=150 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cwFPDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA150}}</ref>